But, as Phillips must know,Jokerisn’t just a discussion. It’s a deliberate provocation that borrows freely from unsettling classics likeTaxi Driver—from an entire subculture of dangerous, marginalized men that includes Charles Manson,A Clockwork Orange’sAlex and notorious Manhattan subway shooter Bernhard Goetz.
Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, a sad-sack rent-a-clown leading a life of desperation and abuse. He lives in a Gotham that doesn’t look much different from the filthy Manhattan where Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle loses his mind inTaxi Driver.(This was the same era in which President Ford told the city to drop dead and the Rolling Stones sang: “Go ahead, bite the Big Apple—don’t mind the maggots.” No one at that time envisioned a future that would include the High Line walkway or Shake Shacks.)
Plagued with mental illnesses and an uncontrollable laugh that doesn’t have an ounce of mirth to it, he looks as if he’s infested with lice, fleas, bedbugs and possibly termites. Phoenix, who lost 50 pounds for the role, takes several opportunities to show us Arthur’s bony backside: There hasn’t been such a disturbing physique sinceJeff Goldblum started metamorphosing into a fly.
Joker.Niko Tavernise
The story is as sadistically simple and efficient as the big wheel that crushed Saint Catherine into holy martyrdom: Arthur is beaten and pummeled, emotionally and physically, until he snaps. At that point he gives his hair an ugly green rinse, smears on some clown makeup and becomes the arch-villain who will plague the Caped Crusader and Gotham for years to come. You may feel a perverse emotional surge at his final transformation, but it’s effectively the catharsis of a lanced boil—the movie equivalent of Dr. Pimple Popper.
Niko Tavernise
Jokerhas a nasty, oppressive power, and it never falters in its grim, purposeful momentum. It feels like two hours spent locked in the trunk of a moving vehicle. Given the movie’s models, especiallyTaxi DriverandKing of Comedy,that is probably what director Phillips was aiming for: They represent something greater than a mere franchise blockbuster. As he toldThe Wrap: “I literally [said] to Joaquin at one point … ‘Look at this as a way to sneak a real movie in the studio system under the guise of a comic book film.’ It wasn’t, ‘We want to glorify this behavior.’ It was literally like ‘Let’s make a real movie with a real budget and we’ll call it f********Joker.’ ”
One feels obliged to counter that there have been several “real”Batmanmovies, made in completely different styles and each deeply upsetting in a singular, original way: Tim Burton’sBatman Returns(the Catwoman one) and Christopher Nolan’sThe Dark Knight,starring Heath Ledger as the Joker.
Joker,rated R, is in theaters Oct. 4.
source: people.com
